


Option Three

by Anhilare



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: But it isn't that original, Evil eye, Gen, I took this in a new direction I promise, Magic, Non-Miraculous Magic, Original Akuma, The Miraculous are still canon, Truth-Akuma
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-08
Updated: 2018-08-08
Packaged: 2019-06-22 16:19:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,291
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15585837
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Anhilare/pseuds/Anhilare
Summary: When one of Hawkmoth's akumas strikes again, Marinette is faced with a major dilemma: transform and reveal her secret identity, but stop the akuma instantly, or keep her identity, but lose the perfect chance and potentially make the situation worse.Or, she can take Option Three.





	Option Three

**Author's Note:**

> So, I keep seeing stories going, " _*wai_! a really tough akuma _*h₁ésti_!" and Marinette/Adrien (usually Marinette) must face the difficult decision of either revealing their identity or making things worse (what choice is made depends on what point in the story you're at). No middle option.
> 
> I call BS

"Jesus Christ, you bitch!"

Heads looked up. _Drama!_ thought everyone.  _She even used the_ B _word! This'll be gooood._

And: _Jesus Christ isn't a bitch,_ thought the Catholics.

"Why did you have to tell that to everyone, Chloé?"

 _Vanilla. Chloé drama is getting old._ All the heads perked up before suddenly lost interest.

Chloé gave no response.

"You didn't need to tell Aurore that I secretly hate being the TVi weather girl!!!" screamed Mireille Caquet at the top of her lungs so that everyone in the schoolyard had those words etched into their souls.

Whoops

Suddenly those heads popped back up. A few (read: almost all) of them giggled a bit (read:  _roared with malicious laughter, ahhhhAHAHA!_ )

"Wow, how pathetic. This girl can't keep her mouth shut! If she can't keep her own secrets, how can we trust her with ours?"

That was a low blow from Chloé. Gossip and secret-telling and -keeping are the favored pastimes of François-Dupont students. Honestly, it's a miracle that 'secret' crushes remain secret.

But now, Mireille's reputation is tarnished. It's very possible that she won't be welcome to the gossiping circles anymore, because she isn't a  _responsible_ gossip. Yes, those exist. They do, truly. Don't deny it.

Anyway, it turns out that butterflies absolutely love the taste of that insecure fear. They really take it in, relish it even. It's irresistible. Yum.

So, up in the art room, Marinette the butterfly watcher tensed. And prepared herself.

A minute later she proudly walked away with a new stain in her shirt. Turns out that a minute is too long.

Akumireille's ability was to cause anyone she gave the Evil Eye™ to blurt out a super embarrassing secret, just like what happened to her! Hmph.

Even though it usually isn't that embarrassing, people are just so dramatic and they can't  _realize_ —

So, La Mauvaizœille was walking around and generally causing strife.

Marinette then walked out to see people shouting weird things at the top of their lungs:

"I'm on my period!"

"I love anime!"

"I'm dating Victor!"

"I'm dating Sophie!"

"Fucking finally, you two!"

Wait, that last one—

Then Marinette just  _felt_ eyes on her. A weird, nasty feeling waved all over her, just _pulsing._ Then, she turned and saw  _her._

"I spilled that paint on purpose!"

La Mauvaizœille was satisfied. She picked herself up and sashayed out the door, staring down Paris itself. _Everyone shall feel as I did._

* * *

Marinette crept into the bathroom. That akuma had to be taken down quick.

"We can't let her reveal everyone's secrets!" she said, opening her purse. "Time to trans form! Tikki, _why are you blue???_ "

Indeed, Tikki was blue. Her round Prussian Blue head now possessed just one large, round, singular eye, with a dead white sclera and a void black pupil. Separating those was a fresh, watery iris.

In other words, she looked like a nazar with a body.

"It was the Evil Eye! That akuma uses her power through the Evil Eye, and as the Kwami of good luck I had to repel it."

"The Evil Eye?"

Tikki blanched.  _What a Northerner, she doesn't even..._ She gave a reassuring smile.  _The amount of folk magic I explain, I swear, I..._ "The human gaze has inherent magic. It can be used for all sorts of things! One of the more powerful spells of the Gaze is the Evil Eye.

"If someone looks at something or someone with enough jealousy and malice, their Gaze will be tainted with those feelings, and they will push them into what they're looking at. Then, it will be cursed with bad luck until either those feelings are used up or the object is purified.

"That's why you're so clumsy, Marinette. Enough people are jealous of you that you have all this bad luck. But Ladybug neutralizes bad luck, so it doesn't affect you when you're transformed."

"Ok..." Marinette kinda got it. "Then why isn't Chloé cursed?"

"No one's actually jealous of her."

No argument there. "True. But why are you blue?"

"I got affected by the evil eye. It won't hurt me because of my magic, but it means your transformation will be affected, and we don't know how. I need more time to cast out the magic"

"No Ladybug?"

"No Ladybug."

And with that, Marinette fainted.

* * *

La Mauvaizœille was honestly bored. There was nothing juicy going on.

The boys:

"I love shōjo!"

"I'm insecure about my biceps!"

"I couldn't care less about modelling!"

And the girls:

"I'm too muscly!"

"I love shooter games!"

"I hate beauty!"

_Ugh, everyone's so pathetic. Those aren't even that embarrassing, you insecure ｗｅａｋｌｉｎｇｓ._

"Indeed," chimed in Hawk Moth, just casually eavesdropping on the Akuma's thoughts. "These are weak. What embarrasses one is usually fine to the rest. Broaden your perspective and target deeper secrets. Bring out Ladybug and Cat Noir!"

"Excellent fores-eye-t, Hawk Moth."

Suddenly, La Mauvaizœille's Gaze intensified. No more was she simply giving a Look—her stare could break minds and pierce souls. Deeper, juicier secrets started to come out:

"My dad takes me out on trips from time to time, but I secretly hate them."

"I've developed an addiction to pornography, and it's stealing all my free time."

"I don't know who I can and can't consider a friend, so I always keep my heart closed."

Many were worse.

La Mauvaizœille laughed at all the drama and resumed walking.

* * *

As Adrien was stopping his own decry, he could  _feel_ the energy change. Gone were the silly 'confessions' from before, gone was the light-hearted laughter following. The horrible, heavy air replacing was suffocating.

He couldn't  _breathe_ —

He needed  _air_ —

The air was  _dirt_ —

The dirt was all _around_ him—he could _see_ it— _hear_ it— _feel_ it— _sense_ it—

 _It's too much!_ said his brain.  _So much pain!_ said his heart.  _We can't stay here!_

By the time his legs stopped shouting, Adrien stood bent over a step of le Palais du Louvre, lungs hammering, heart wheezing.

Adriens lungs and heart returned to their rightful functions, prompting him to go, "What was that?"

"You're lucky you're lucky," said Plagg. "That air was full of the Evil Eye. Any longer and you would've been singing out all your secrets!"

That was a lie, of course. Adrien could never be described as 'lucky.' Because Plagg is the Kwami of bad luck, he was able to partially deflect that magic from the boy. Not that he would ever say it.

Ignoring the claim about his luck, Adrien continued with, "Doesn't the Evil Eye only affect _specific_ things?"

 _He knows what it is!_  "Yes, it does, but the Eye transfers envious and malicious energies, and that energy needs to flow somehow. Problem is, air is still stuff, so some of the air gets affected too. That akuma was Eyeing so often that the air absorbed enough energy."

He didn't need to explain for what.

"Then we need to stop this! Plagg, cl—"

"Nononono, don't transform! This akuma is too indirect; one stare and you're done. We need to find another way." With that, Plagg's helpfulness quota was fulfilled, so he dove into Adrien's bag to recharge his energy.

Being useful is  _exhausting._

* * *

Marinette, restored to life, crept from the bathroom. "Master can help you, right? Should we—"

"No! You mustn't leave the building! I can sense strong Evil Eye power outside. If we are to leave, we need a way to protect ourselves from the magic."

Tikki was right. The poor other students fled the school, only to suffer even more outside.

"What could we use? I don't have any charms. Can we make some sort of sign?"

Tikki closed her one eye. "Mm-mm. All the signs only work if you point them at the source. You would need to constantly thrust out your hands at the akuma, which wouldn't be—wait."

Tikki froze.  _sniff sniff_ she sniffed. Slowly, she started floating to the locker rooms, never stopping her nose.

"What is it, Tikki?"

She turned, her eye glimmering with hope. "Do you know anyone who keeps dried chilies?"

" _What?_ No! Wait, there is. In the art room, this girl Sophie is making a Mexican piece. Today, she brought a bunch of dried red chilies to use. She was going to attach them today, but then the—"

"Ok, great! Let's go!"

The two made on over to the art room, right above the lockers.

"There it is!"

"Yes! Dried red chili has the power to repel the Evil Eye! This will save us! The fumes from the chili carry heat energy, which chases off the Eye like fire to a wolf. Until the Eye's magic is gone the fumes won't burn your eyes and nose."

"Red chili peppers don't burn anyway."

"Oh, poor sweet Marinette, you've had the Eye on you for a very long time."

* * *

"These will work?" Adrien was decked out in eye-repelling clothing. He had on a large shirt covered with nazars, and baggy pants patterned in alternating chilies and hooks. He was also sporting a bushy necklace made of woven red chili, a stinging haze wafting around himself.

"Of course they will," replied a dying Plagg. As Adrien walked, the chilies rattled, turning the excitement of every single baby to himself. No one went near the eccentric boy, especially with the hazardous fumes surrounding him. It couldn't be funnier!

Two choking people later and that was proven wrong.

* * *

Marinette was holding the bunch of peppers like a lantern. Around it, there was a bubble of evil-free air, and it left a trailing path of purified air. She was also wearing a flowy eye-patterned dress and a coral necklace, extra protection at Tikki's insistence. Tikki herself took up residence on the bunch, disguising herself as a hanging nazar.

"We need to get to the akuma and see what it's doing. We can follow the air to see where it's gone."

"Yeah, but then what? Won't Hawk Moth notice that we're purifying all that air?"

"Trust me when I say this, but he has no way of knowing."

Coming from the opposite side was Adrien. He steered clear of the tainted air, so he was approaching La Mauvaizœille from her front.

"So, what'll we do once we're there? I'm not transformed because I can't repel the Evil Eye as Cat Noir, meaning I'd have to help Ladybug, whose natural good luck immunizes her to it, wearing these stupid things."

"Well, it's a good thing that Ladybug didn't bother to show up, then."

Adriens eyes snapped up to face her.

"Fascinating. My power doesn't affect you! What is it causing that?"

Wait, she isn't flying? They usually do.

From behind her Marinette appeared. She and Adrien made eye contact, and both of their faces went ashen.

"Um, well, you see, I, uh, have no secrets to tell?"

"Really! Well, aren't you an awful honest person."

"Marinette!" Tikki was urgently whispering. "I repelled the magic from myself! Suit up and take her down!"

 _Adrien's right there, though!_ screamed Marinette's brain.  _I can't reveal myself to him!_

"The air's pretty clear now!" Plagg was hidden in the pepper necklace. "I say you take her down!"

 _That's ridiculously out of character for Plagg!_ screamed Adrien's brain.  _Besides, Marinette's right there! I can't reveal myself to her!_

As they stared at the akuma, dressed in their anti-Evil-Eye regalia, they suddenly realized:  _The Evil Eye is a form of magic practiced by normal humans. These charms are the products of humans. Normal people can do magic! Why don't_ I _do so too?_

So the two focused on that rush of magic the miraculous gave. They concentrated hard, until they reached the point they could  _feel_ it. It was  _so close,_ it was  _within their grasp..!_

All of a sudden, they called upon that magic, generated from nothing! Marinette's dress blinked, a river flowing from the coral necklace over the eyelids, magic its tributaries. The waters flowed out and grew, reaching farther until she was bathed in them. Adrien's shirt blinked, heat pouring from the chilies to the eyes, scorching them and empowering them. They ignited in pain and devoured the chilies below and grew to cover them. The fires roared, licking the ground and billowing out until he was engulfed in them. All that time, the eyes watched every move.

They were now sorcerers, the first to appear in over 3000 years, when magic was being replaced by superstition and religion. La Mauvaizœille stood no chance. Marinette, the Blue Sorceress, sent out her purifying waters over the whole city, completely washing out all existing Evil Eyes. The Red Sorcerer scorched the akuma with his flame, chasing it away and engulfing it, burining away the darkness.

* * *

Marinette felt much closer to Adrien for some reason after that. When the fight ended, they never really detransformed. The robes just vanished, leaving them in their normal clothes with their powers fully intact.

"So, do you think anyone will figure it was us?" said a slightly paranoid and therefore articulate Marinette. The two were now sitting next to les Jardins du Trocadéro discussing this magical development.

"I don't think anyone was there. Most everyone else fled."

After La Mauvaizœille, Paris massively slowed down. 30% of the population was affected by her, and many horrible things were revealed.

A significant chunk of the population needed to deal with the aftermath.

"I still don't understand how powerful we are. Can we fortune tell? Teleport? Mind-read?"

"Y-yeah, I want to know too."

Adrien hesitated. "Well, how about you come over sometime for some experimenting?"

"I'd love to."

* * *

If there's one thing that they learned, though, it's that there's always another way, even if it's implausible.

Because right now, they just saved you about 10 chapters of angst. You're welcome

**Author's Note:**

> I'm very unsatisfied with this ending. I think it's anticlimactic. Suggestions open
> 
> On with the evil eye trivia!
> 
> People with blue eyes are better at casting the Evil Eye. Who has blue eyes and was around long enough to keep up the curse, I wonder...
> 
> Here are some funnier ways to repel the Eye: pinching the buttocks, carrying around phallic charms, making the fig sign (other countries' version of flipping the bird)
> 
> Also, whoever recognizes _*these words_ gets bonus points


End file.
